Kitchen Bones

Muffins and Donuts

Prior to moving to Pittsburgh, I had real concern about how I would readjust to the gluten free community. I had gotten used to my usual stops in Rochester. Wegmans had my baking needs, the co-op had my special treats, and the Owl House was my regular grilled cheese stop and hang out when there was a special occasion. 

It didn’t actually take too much effort to find my new outlets. Giant Eagle has a respectable gluten free aisle, and I can even find pasta in Target and Kuhn’s. Then, of course, there’s Gluuteny with their fresh cakes and cookies (I worked there long hours everyday, and I still have endless cravings for those snickerdoodles). 

It was a little bit before I found the Gluten Free Zone. It was just on a drive home that I spotted their sign outside their store. I was drawn in by their green logo and immediately knew what “GF” meant. How exciting! A new, safe place to explore. I didn’t really know what to expect. Was it a bakery with a few select items? Did it just have boxed cereals and pastas like I’ve seen in the organic section of groceries stores?

I was really stunned when I finally walked in. It’s a small store, but still so much bigger than I anticipated. And walls just covered in cakes mixes, flours, pastas, crackers, chips, sauces, protein bars, breads, chips, pretzels, waffles, pizzas, pies…!! I’m talking packed! I’ve been there a few times now and I still am surprised at what I find. My last trip I even picked up ramen and soba noodles! They carry products I hadn’t even considered eating again. And best of all, they have a bakery and a lunch menu.

My hope is that, with this new excitement, I shoot and blog more. I am very happy with everything I have bought there, and I am to eager to try more. I am slowly reintroducing foods back into my regular diet, instead of cutting them out and forgetting they existed.

September

September is here, and already on it’s way out. I was disappointed that summer is ending, but then I remembered pumpkin and cinnamon. Bill and I eat together a lot, and in the past couple weeks we’ve tried a couple new dinner treats. We don’t claim to be the best cooks, or even very good, but we’re happy to experiment and learn (mostly I learn from watching Bill cook).

It’s been a bit since I had a chance to do any personal shooting, but I’ve picked up my camera here and there. A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of assisting Joe Appel with a wedding and got to play with the fabulous D700. I’ll post some pictures from the event soon. I’ve been working quite a bit at the bakery, and Jes asked me to shoot a couple shots of out recent fondant wedding cake. I also got to wander around the reception area a bit while she finished decorating.

I’m very excited to have the opportunity to work with Joe again in a couple weeks. And soon, I’ll be training a new prep cook so I can take a couple more days off during the week to shoot more. That means more wedding photos, more food, and more gluten free reviews. 

I’m sending Bill off to Italy tomorrow. Have fun, good luck, be safe, and bring something back for me, Love.